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A Suffolk County Superior Court jury today found Casimiro Barros of Roxbury guilty of voluntary manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, in the March 24, 2007 death of Chiara Levin outside a Dorchester house party, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Prosecutors had sought a first-degree conviction, which would have sent Barros away for life without the possibility of parole.

The case of a second man charged with Levin's murder, Manuel Andrade, 36, of Dorchester, has yet to come to trial. Levin was killed in the crossfire between the two, which prosecutors say was the violent culmination of a long-standing beef between Barros's Roxbury boys and Andrade's Dorchester associates.

Prosecutors allege Barros and Andrade got into a battle inside - which ended with Andrade throwing a plate of food at one of Barros's pals and then shooting him in the shoulder for good measure - and that they took the fight outside, pulling guns and taking aim at each other. Officials say one of Barros's bullets hit Levin, sitting inside Andrade's Escalade, in the head, killing her. Levin had met Andrade at a club earlier in the evening but was not involved in the fight, officials said.

By the time he'd turned 20, Barros was already listed by the state as an "an armed career criminal" for a variety of gun-related violent crimes.

In addition to the reduced murder charge, which could get him 20 years, the jury found Barros guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm, the DA's office says. He's scheduled for sentencing tomorrow morning.

Lissa Harris has a serious point to make in this post about stupid cliche-brained reporters doing vapid faux sociology pieces on stuff like why women rob banks. But she makes the mistake of recounting an incident at the Lower Mills CVS last year in which she watched as some guy successfully stole a package of Pampers:

... Shoplifting an item the size of an ottoman is no mean feat, especially after you're caught doing it, but fat man was undeterred. Finding himself cornered, he began uttering vague threats and clawing suggestively at the waistband of his sweatpants. A gun, however imaginary, was clearly out of CVS guy's pay grade. He backed off, and the Scarlet Pampernel escaped into the night with his absorbent booty. ...

Why is that a mistake? Because now I can't get the phrase "Scarlet Pampernel" out of my brain.

Boston Police report counterfeit $10, $50, $100 and especially $20 bills continue to surface in Roxbury, South Boston, Dorchester and Jamaica Plain, despite the Feb. 3 arrest of a man on counterfeiting charges and the seizure of equipment that could be used to make bogus bills:

The most frequent recipient of these counterfeit bills have been Taxi/ Livery drivers, restaurants and bars ...

A Dorchester man out on bail for holding up a pizza guy at gunpoint and an alleged pal were today charged with gunning down another man on Jan. 7.

Trevon Mason, 21, and Daryl Pullen, 20, are both charged with the Jan. 7 slaying of Tyrone Smith at 96 Stanwood Street, Boston Police and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office announced. Officials charge they also pulled the trigger on Smith's female acquaintance, who survived.

Last September, Mason was charged with using a silver-colored handgun to rob a pizza-delivery man. He was released on $3,000 bail; at the time, his attorney called the charge "completely trumped up." The DA's office says Mason's bail was revoked on Jan. 7 following Smith's murder when police picked him up for trespassing and illegal possession of a firearm.

Mason and Pullen are expected to be arraigned later this week on murder and related charges in Dorchester District Court.

The Herald gets a hold of a police report on the New Fellowship Baptist Church fire, which states the fire broke out in several places at once.

Boston Police report that shortly after 1 a.m. today, a man jumped into a woman's car and sped off - with the woman's young female cousin in the front seat.

Police say two officers soon spotted the car on Washington Street and managed to pull the car over. But as officers approached the car, the guy slammed on the gas, slightly grazing one of them. Police say the officers "observed a female, believed to be the victim of the carjacking, slumped over in the front passenger's side seat."

Portrait of a Dorchester panhandler.

The Globe reports on a Codman Square meeting among the city's black clergy; they agree that their own rancor detracts from the battle against gang violence.

Jef Taylor reports he spotted an opossum yesterday in Franklin Park:

... These marsupials, having worked their way up from South America only a couple million years ago, are ill-equipped for New England winters. Their hairless tails and ears are frequently frostbitten, and you can tell an older individual (one that has survived at least one winter, and the oldest will only survive about three) by its truncated extremities. If it weren't for their ludicrous litter size and relatively young sexual maturity, they wouldn't make it here. ...